Open for Us the Doors of Mercy: Homily on the Nativity of the Mother of God (St. Cleopa of Sihastria)

Open for Us the Doors of Mercy: 
Homily on the Nativity of the Mother of God 

St. Cleopa of Sihastria

“Your Nativity, O Virgin Theotokos, has proclaimed joy to all the universe, for from you has shone forth the Sun of righteousness, Christ our God.” (Troparion of the Feast)

Beloved faithful!

When I think of the great honor and glory with which the Most Good and Most Generous God has adorned the Mother of God in heaven; when I think of the eternal glorification with which the heavenly powers praise her; when I then think of the divine services and prayers that all the children of the Church of Christ offer to her here on earth, as well as of the words of praise composed in her honor by the saints and chosen ones of God, my mind urges me, unworthy though I am, to add today, on this radiant feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, this small drop to the great sea of praises in her honor. And this is what I would like to say.

Homily on the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos (Fr. Daniel Sysoev)

By Fr. Daniel Sysoev

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit!

I congratulate you all on the great feast of the Nativity of our Most Holy Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary! On the very day of the Nativity of the Theotokos, we both rejoice and exult, because she is born who, according to the flesh, gave birth to the Son of God for us. The best of all the daughters of mankind has been born. We can say that the birth of the Theotokos is the greatest of all human births. This, of course, is not the birth according to the flesh of the Son of God, whose vessel the Most Pure Mother of God became, but it is the culmination of all the births that took place in ancient times. We know that the Holy Scripture of the Old Testament and the very practice of the people of ancient times taught that the greatest blessing that can be bestowed upon a person is the birth of a son or daughter, and not simply the birth of a human being, but the birth of a righteous person. This was considered the greatest blessing in ancient times.

The Lord said: “And if you will listen to these ordinances and keep and observe them, then the Lord your God will keep the covenant and mercy with you, as He swore to your fathers, and He will love you and bless you and multiply you, and He will bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your land” (Deut. 7:13–14).

To many emancipated young women of today, and to worldly men, this may seem abnormal. But God is the source of life, and it is His will that there be more living beings. And the perception of childbearing as a great blessing from God is precisely connected with the perception of God as the Living God.

Synaxis of the Forebears of God Joachim and Anna in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

1. We celebrate their synaxis on account of the birth of our Most Holy Lady Theotokos. And they became the agents of the salvation of the whole world through their all-holy daughter, the Theotokos. Their repose from this world, however, is commemorated on the twenty-fifth day of the month of July.

2. In the aftermath of the Nativity of the Theotokos (September 8), we celebrate the feast of the Synaxis of the Righteous Joachim and Anna, following the beloved custom of the Church to honor, after a great event, the persons who played the leading role in it. Joachim and Anna are honored as the parents of the Theotokos, that is, as those who cooperated so that, by the will of God, their daughter Mary, who had been predestined to become His Mother, might come into the world. And certainly, it is only natural that such a noble fruit as the Panagia should have parents who were not ordinary, but who were indeed characterized by intense reverence for God and absolute obedience to the law of God, and for this reason surpassed all others in their parental calling. “O blessed pair! You surpassed all parents, because you caused to sprout forth her who surpasses all creation,” as our Church also sings.

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 9

The Month of September

9th Day

10. A Christian Can Rejoice Even in Sufferings

(From the Life of the Holy Martyr Severian. Menaion, September 9)

It is well known that the Holy Apostles rejoiced even in their sufferings. Thus, it is said of them that after they had been beaten in the Sanhedrin, they “went forth from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 5:41). And the Apostle Paul says of himself: “I rejoice in my sufferings” (Col. 1:24). What, then, is this? Is it really true? Can one truly rejoice in sufferings, not become disheartened in sorrows, and not despair in deprivation? Do not be surprised, brethren: it truly is possible, for this truth can readily be demonstrated not only by the example of the Apostles but by other examples as well. And so, as a further confirmation of it, today we place before you one such example, which in our opinion is particularly convincing.

Homily on the Nativity of our Most Holy Lady Theotokos (St. Theodore the Studite)

Homily on the Nativity of our Most Holy Lady Theotokos 

By St. Theodore the Studite

1. Today creation celebrates with splendor, receiving the Virgin as a new heaven. A maiden has been born upon the earth, the living chamber of the King of heaven. A young woman has come into the light, shining more brightly than a ray of the sun. An infant has shone forth from a barren womb, the most holy sanctuary of virginity.

Who will not hasten to the festival? Who will not bring festal gifts, dear and beloved to the Virgin?

The most beautiful gift for those living in virginity is incorruption; for those who are married, temperance; for the rich, generosity; for the poor, thanksgiving; for rulers, meekness; for kings, justice; for priests, holiness; for all, good order in all things.

Since, then, such are the gifts, and with such gifts comes this splendid celebration, come, let us leap for joy in gladness. Let us sing songs of thanksgiving with David: “Let us rejoice in the Lord; let us shout aloud to God our Savior.”

For the Creator of all things, a temple has been prepared for His reception; for the creative Word, a dwelling place for His sojourn has been prepared; for the Sun of righteousness, a cloud of light has been spread forth; for Him who encompasses the heavens in clouds, the fabric of a God-woven garment is being raised up; for Him who mingles the seasons and gathers together times and years, a bridal gathering-place has been revealed.

September: Day 8: Teaching 3: Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos

September: Day 8: Teaching 3: 
Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos
 
(The Cause of Christian Joy at the Birth of the Mother of God)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The parents of the Most Holy Theotokos were the holy and righteous Joachim and Anna. Saint Joachim was descended from King David, while Anna was from the high-priestly lineage of Aaron, and both led a godly life: on every feast they gave alms and offered abundant sacrifices in the Temple. They had been married for fifty years, but, having no children, they grieved deeply over this and prayed to God for the removal of their barrenness. Once, on a great feast, Joachim wished to offer a sacrifice to God in the Temple. But the high priest, before the multitude of people, began to reproach him for his sins, saying that God had not blessed him with children and that he was unworthy to offer a gift to God.

Returning home in sorrow, Joachim went out into the field where his flocks were grazing, and there, pouring out his grief before God in prayer, he vowed to fast for forty days and to live in the wilderness. Anna, learning what had happened in the Temple and seeing that her husband did not return, likewise began to grieve and weep. One day, as she was sitting in the garden beneath a spreading tree, she saw on the tree a nest with young birds. This increased her sorrow even more. She thought that she must be more sinful than everyone in the world, since the Lord did not grant her even the joys that the birds and beasts have. She began to pray with tears, and suddenly an angel appeared to her and said: “Anna, your prayer has been heard. You shall give birth to a daughter, most blessed; through her all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed, and salvation shall be given to the whole world. You shall call her Mary.”

The Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

We did not even have time to bring to an end the praises of the Most Holy Theotokos for the month of August — a month that is made radiant, as we all know, by her Dormition, but also by the deposition of her honorable zoni — and already we are beginning new celebrations on the occasion of the feast of her Nativity. But our Church never ceases to celebrate the Mother of the Lord, indeed on a daily basis, since all her hymns are crowned by the troparia dedicated to her, the well-known Theotokia, just as all the great feasts of our saints have as their standard-bearers the canons dedicated to her. And rightly so: the Panagia is a type of the Church, because just as she gave birth to the Son of God as man, so the Church gives birth to Christ in the hearts of human beings. Therefore, not only on the feasts of the Mother of God, but at all feasts and always, the Panagia has the first place. What, however, does today’s feast specifically set before us, so that it is distinguished from the other feasts of the Panagia?

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 8

 

 

The Month of September

8th Day

9. What Parents Should Do if They Desire Their Children to Grow Up as Good and Godly People

(From a homily on the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos. Menaion, September 8)

All parents, perhaps we may say, even without exception, naturally desire that their children should grow up to be good and godly people. Even the most wicked person, we see, punishes his child when the child has done something wrong, thereby showing that he too, although he himself is wicked, nevertheless wants his son to grow up good and not evil. Thus, the desire to see one’s children good is, one may say, the desire of all parents. But we would add only this, which we do not think is superfluous: although the desire is the same among all, its fulfillment is not the same for everyone. With some, the children turn out good, while with others they are wicked. And what follows from this? In our opinion, it is that it is not enough for parents merely to desire that their children should turn out good; they must also know what they, as parents, need to do so that their desire may become a reality. What, then, must they do?

The Panagia is the Dawn From Which the Sun of Justice Emerged to Illumine the World

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

The Panagia, as we say in the Apolytikion of the feast of her Nativity, was deemed worthy by God to give birth to justice, which is Christ Himself. It says: “For from her has arisen the Sun of justice, Christ our God.” Christ is the Sun of justice, and the Panagia is the dawn from which Christ emerged and illumined the whole world. Christ is characterized as the “Sun of justice” because He shone upon the world and restored it to its former glory, its original beauty, delivering it from the dark gloom of ignorance.

Usually, we understand justice as the giving back of what is due, as the correction of the injustice that occurs in the world for various reasons, and as the administration of justice. But the question that arises is how one determines what is just and what justice is, because each person sees the matter from a different subjective perspective and understands justice in a different way.